


The Thin Line Between Love and Hate

by SJpyeongpyeong



Series: WonKyu Week [1]
Category: Super Junior
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26974354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SJpyeongpyeong/pseuds/SJpyeongpyeong
Summary: This might be a little generic and unpolished but it was the only thing I could come up with based on the first prompt for WonKyu Week. This is also my first foray into writing WonKyu save from a WIP that has been on my drafts since forever; so I beg a little indulgence as I explore their dynamics.Thank you toMoon,my ever reliable friend for the prompt of having them be school rivals and exploring the thin line between hatred and love.Warning: Slight mention of bullying.
Relationships: Cho Kyuhyun/Choi Siwon
Series: WonKyu Week [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1968496
Comments: 5
Kudos: 28





	The Thin Line Between Love and Hate

**Author's Note:**

> This might be a little generic and unpolished but it was the only thing I could come up with based on the first prompt for WonKyu Week. This is also my first foray into writing WonKyu save from a WIP that has been on my drafts since forever; so I beg a little indulgence as I explore their dynamics.
> 
> Thank you to [ Moon,](https://twitter.com/entremelement) my ever reliable friend for the prompt of having them be school rivals and exploring the thin line between hatred and love.
> 
> Warning: Slight mention of bullying.

School was just something he knew he had to do and he had to do it well, especially with his father’s expectations. Kyuhyun didn’t mind though, he had always been competitive by nature and grades were just another thing he could be good at - and that he was.

He had laser - focus and in his entire academic career, there was only one thing, or person rather, that served as his biggest distraction. From pre - school until they finished high school, the man was always right on his tail except that Kyuhyun worked his ass of studying while the other seemed to be the most unbothered student that had ever existed. It annoyed Kyuhyun to no end that the man was naturally intelligent and bright; while he had to spend hours on end with his nose buried in books just to comprehend everything. 

Kyuhyun distinctly remembers the first time they met. It was in pre-school at the mere age of five. Kyuhyun couldn’t hate the thought of school more but his father insisted that he had to go. He was well - behaved though, just as he was taught - staying seated in his own corner the entire time until someone bounces, literally bounces, right up to him during their snack break. 

> _“Hi! My name is Siwon and I want to be your friend!” The boy declares but young Kyuhyun just stares at the boy now seated across him. The next thing he knows, the boy takes his favorite biscuits from his snack bag and switches it with the a box of juice he didn’t like at all._
> 
> _“Hey! That’s mine,” he protests but the kid was already halfway through his biscuits. “Mom said I could share with friends, this is really yummy!” Siwon mumbles through his mouth - full of biscuit._
> 
> _Tears start forming at the corners of Kyuhyun’s eyes. He didn’t want to be friends if that meant they were going to take his biscuits from him. It was at that moment that Kyuhyun decided that this boy was going to be his enemy._

When they reached primary school, Kyuhyun started to grow even more annoyed with Siwon. He’d keep bugging Kyuhyun to play with him at the playground instead of sitting on the benches reading a book. Kyuhyun would ignore him each and every time. 

> _“Kyuhyunnie!! Come play with us.” Siwon tugs on his arms, dragging him out to where the other children were. Kyuhyun hated the sun and he hated getting sweaty and dirty, so when he rips his arm off the boy’s grasp - “Can’t you see I’m reading?!”_
> 
> _“All you do is read!! It’s outside time now, you have to play with us!” Kyuhyun, at his young age, has mastered the art of eye rolling. So he rolls his eyes at the kid when Siwon crosses his arms and pouts at him._
> 
> _“You’re such a kid.” Kyuhyun says, as if speaking with years of life experience before he plops back down on the bench under the tree, away from the sun and places his attention back on his book._

Come middle school, the competition between the two was starting to build up even more. And that’s how the actual rivalry became more pronounced, Kyuhyun wanting to top Siwon at everything. Mathematics was definitely his best subject and Siwon couldn’t come anywhere near him there, but everything else was free game. Kyuhyun hated studying but his competitive nature takes precedence. His driving force, apart from his father’s strict reminders, was the desire to beat Siwon. 

> _When their teacher asked them to raise their pens if they knew how to spell the word in question, Kyuhyun’s pen was up right before anyone else’s. It became second nature for Kyuhyun to look around right after he raises his pen to check who else had their pens up. Siwon would always wait for Kyuhyun’s eyes to land on him before raising his own pen - as if mocking him that he had finished before Kyuhyun and was just waiting for him._
> 
> _Kyuhyun had always managed to secure the top spot until after that one particular grading period where Siwon finally overtakes him. “Oh sweet, number one!” Siwon comes up right next to him at the bulletin board._
> 
> _“Damn it.” Kyuhyun whispers under his breath getting incredibly frustrated, blaming that day he got sick and wasn’t able to study well enough for their test. “Are you happy now?!” He asks the boy beside him, voice full of disdain before he storms out._

When high school came, people had started to brand Kyuhyun as the tall and gangly nerd that was too arrogant for his own good. He wasn’t the friendly type in the first place and he much preferred staying holed up in the peace and quiet of the school’s library than mingling with a bunch of hormonal teenagers who felt the need to establish themselves every second. He didn’t mind though, because that meant people left him alone for the most part. 

Siwon, on the other hand, started to become the school’s center of attention. He was a great student, he was the star basketball player, he made friends with everybody and as if even puberty was his bestfriend, he started to fill up well and his good looks started to come out even more. The entire student body was head over heels for the man; even the faculty loved him, lowerclassmen looked up to him and everyone wanted to be his friend - except Kyuhyun. 

The library became Kyuhyun’s sanctuary. It was the place where he spent all of his free time including lunch breaks at and it worked to his absolute advantage because he liked to be ahead of his lessons. Because he didn’t have great comprehension, he had to read the material at least twice to be able to retain it in his memory and have a complete grasp of the subject.

> _Kyuhyun was seated at his usual spot, focused on his Science book._ _He shoots a glare at whoever it was that was taking the seat next to him when the entire library was empty. Firstly, nobody ever bothered to stay at the library and secondly, did this man have no regard for personal space at all?_
> 
> _“Hey, do you want to be my partner for the Science project?” Siwon asks, placing his own books on the table._
> 
> _“No.” Kyuhyun answers without a second of doubt._
> 
> _Siwon whines, “But it takes so much work and I don’t want to do it alone, please?”_
> 
> _“Get one of your lackeys to partner with you, I’m not doing it.”_
> 
> _"_ _But you’re my friend and I want to do it with you.” Siwon insists yet again._
> 
> _“I said no.” Kyuhyun starts packing his things up, the library was supposed to be his quiet place and with the man next to him constantly bothering him, he’d much rather spend it elsewhere. “Besides I’m already done with my project.”_

Kyuhyun scoffs as he remembers why he hated high school with every fiber of his being. While people left him to his devices for the most part, there were a bunch of jocks who seemed to have made it their life’s mission to harass the hell out of Kyuhyun. And maybe it was because of the fact that he never backed down, fighting back with his venomous words, that their pea – sized brains came to the conclusion that picking on him would be fun.

> _“Hey nerd! This is due tomorrow so why don’t you make that huge head of yours useful and do it for me, huh?”_
> 
> _Kyuhyun exhales at the remark, tired of their antics but he's unable to resist himself as he returns it with a retort of his own, “Maybe if your tried using yours, you wouldn’t be such a neanderthal.”_
> 
> _He should’ve seen it coming but suddenly the book he’s now taken out of his locker and into his arms was sent flying when the jock takes it from him and throws it on the floor, “What did you say?”_
> 
> _Kyuhyun puffs out his frail chest, “I said, maybe if you actually used that brain of yours instead of having other people to think for you then you might actually play better.”_
> 
> _As the jock pulls out his fist, ready to hit Kyuhyun, Siwon steps in between them, “What’s the matter here? Are you bothering my friend?” The jocks, not willing to cross the man knowing how much pull Siwon had with the student body, immediately turn their backs and make their own way._
> 
> _Siwon picks up the book that was left on the floor and hands it back to Kyuhyun, “I don’t need your help. I can handle them.”_
> 
> _“Yeah, but you don’t have to. I protect all my friends.” Siwon shoots him his trademark smile, dimples out on display._
> 
> _“We’re not friends.”_

Since that day, Siwon always seemed to be there for him when the jocks would come and harass him. No matter how rude or mean Kyuhyun was to him; when he was being cornered, Siwon had always been there to take his side. Soon enough, the jocks left him alone - after being branded as someone under Siwon’s protection, nobody dared to pick on him. 

And with the increase of Kyuhyun’s hatred with trying to keep up with the man, his interest in him also grew. He started to notice how Siwon’s smile could easily rival the sun’s brightness; how happy the man seemed to be as if nothing could rain on his parade and just how genuinely kind he is to everybody - often going out of his way to help out any body in need. 

He starts to develop an affinity for the man but Kyuhyun would much rather be shot in point blank range than to admit to himself or to anybody else that he had a _big fat crush_ on one man that goes by the name of Choi Siwon, just like everybody else.

Kyuhyun tried to avoid the man at all costs, he resigned himself to keeping distance with the man with his newly discovered emotions. While they stayed in the same class for the rest of their years in high school, they rarely interacted with one another. Kyuhyun ends up graduating as the Class Valedictorian and obviously, he gets admitted to one of the top colleges of the country where he decides to leave everything behind from his high school life and start anew.

* * *

_**10 Years Later** _

Kyuhyun was curious as to how everybody in their class turned out; not that he really cared nor bothered to pay attention to any of them back then - but isn’t that the reason why people held reunions anyway? He’s done well for himself, of course. He has a high - paying job, he’s living in a penthouse apartment right in the heart of Seoul and he was content with his life. The only thing that hasn’t changed was the fact that he was still by himself; he got too caught up in his career that he never really paid attention to his social or love life. 

He signs his name on the register and gets handed a name tag that he sticks on his left breastpocket. Walking through the hallways of his alma mater was indeed nostalgic but Kyuhyun wasn’t nearly as sentimental as most were, if anything - the only reason he was here was because he was looking forward to seeing a certain someone after all these years. 

Not that he was keeping tabs on him still, but everybody knew who Choi Siwon was. Right out of college, the man had started to become a household name due to his philanthropic work and actively speaking out for his advocacies. He had inherited their family’s conglomerate business and turned the massive opportunity and used the attention towards the greater good, _just as Kyuhyun expected_. 

Kyuhyun was dead set on blending in, just as usual. He doesn’t even expect anybody here to remember him much less interact with him. He keeps an eye out for Siwon but the man was nowhere to be found. So he falls back into his old routine and minds his own business, partaking in the dinner that was prepared for them and watching the prepared program and only makes small talk with some of his old teachers and some of his batchmates who were assigned to the same table as him out of politeness. 

As he was just about ready to call it a night, the feels a hand land on his shoulder, “Hi, I haven’t seen you in a while.” 

And he’s greeted by the very face of the man that he wished to see, so after all the years of Kyuhyun ignoring the man, there’s finally a change in tone when he greets back with a shy smile, “Hi.”

“Is this real? Are you finally going to speak to me now?” Siwon jests pulling up a chair right next to him but Kyuhyun sees the actual surprise on the man’s face. “I thought it was a good time for a change,” he answers. “Ignoring you all those years ago, didn’t seem to work; so I’ve come to the conclusion that you’re not going to stop annoying me until I recognize you.” Kyuhyun was nervous - and he’s always used his sharp tongue as a way to mask his true emotions. 

“Ouch, you know, I always wondered why you were so annoyed with me. I just really wanted to get close with you.” And now that he has a closer look at the man, he can see that Siwon could just as easily keep up with his sarcasm. 

“I guess I should apologize for that, I was really miserable back then. I worked my ass off to be at the top but you were always looking so cute and happy and you were always right up there with me, I guess that annoyed me. Plus, you took my biscuits in kindergarten and anybody who takes my food is no friend of mine.” Kyuhyun states, thinking that after all these years - Siwon deserved an explanation as to why he had always been salty all those years but adding that little bit at the end intended as a joke to make things light, but also meaning every word of it. 

But apparently, only one thing registered with Siwon in his entire monologue, “Cute? You thought I was cute?” 

Kyuhyun’s ears turn bright red - he got too caught up in his explanation that he doesn’t even notice that Freudian slip. “Fine, you caught me. I was just as enamored by you as everybody else back then.” He doesn’t know what’s gotten into him, but this was probably the last time he’d come across the man anyway so he might as well. They were living in completely different worlds now. 

“You have got to be kidding me!” Kyuhyun is taken aback by Siwon’s exasperation. “I kept bugging you because I thought you were the cutest too, especially when you’d be so concentrated with whatever it was that you were working on that your eyebrows would furrow together. Why did you think I kept asking you to partner with me for school projects? I wanted to spend more time with you.” 

They sit in stunned silence at the unexpected discovery. Kyuhyun laughs at the irony of it all, all this time they were actually attracted to one another and not the rivals he made themselves out to be. 

It was Siwon who breaks the silence, raising a glass to Kyuhyun, “If I’d had known that’s how things were, I shouldn’t have stopped bugging you and actually asked you out for a date or something, maybe things would have turned differently.” 

“It’s not too late now, is it?” was Kyuhyun’s only reply before clinking his own glass against Siwon's.

**Author's Note:**

> Your input would be very much appreciated especially for the WonKyu shippers out there that come across this fic. 
> 
> Come see me on Twitter, [ here.](https://twitter.com/SJpyeongpyeong)


End file.
